OPEN FIRE COOKING ON PAPER TOWEL!!

How many of you have heard of cooking a beef roast over a wood campfire using wet paper towel and a bed of rock salt to cook on?

Our friends Bob and Sue Underwood from Ohio/Florida have been up visiting us for a few days. We have both been fixing roasts this way for several years now and decided last night would be a good time to fix one for our supper.

A couple of hours prior to cooking you need to get a good hard wood campfire going and let it burn down to a good hot bed of coals with just a few flickering flames of fire showing.

I am including a few photos of Bob preparing the roast and doing the cooking. You take 8 or 10 layers of soaking wet paper towel ... place them on the cold grill. On top of the towel pat on a solid covering of rock salt about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle the roast with granulated garlic and a little black pepper. You then lay the roast on the bed of rock salt. Place another bed of the salt on top of the roast and 8 to 10 layers of soaking wet paper towel on it. Tuck the paper in around the sides so none of the meat is showing.

I might note the roast we did was a chuck roast, cut 3 inches thick and weighed a little over 3-1/3 pounds. Anyway, you swing the roast out over the bed of coals. This size of roast, we cook on the first side for about one hour. Then, swing it off the fire and flip it over... cooking another 15 to 20 minutes. This will produce some of the finest eating roast beef you have ever tasted!

I should note, it will not be salty like you think it would. The salt makes a solid crust and does not stick to the meat. The cooking times we used, produced well done meat on the outside and pink medium rare on the inside. Once you have done one or two roast you will get a feel for the cooking time in relation to the size of the roast. It is also important to note a cheap cut of meat, such as the chuck will produce better results than the more expensive cuts.

Good Luck and enjoy!!!